Sun announces expiry of open offer for Taro shares

Drug firm Sun Pharma today said the deadline for its open offer to acquire all outstanding ordinary shares of Israeli-firm Taro has expired.

The company's subsidiary Alkaloida Chemical Company Exclusive Group (Alakloida) had made the open offer, after the Israeli Supreme Court recently gave it a go ahead to end its nearly four years of battle to gain control of Taro.

"Sun has been informed by Computershare, the depositary for the Offer, that as of 12 midnight New York city time on September 28, 2010, a total of 29,382 ordinary shares had been tendered pursuant to the tender offer representing approximately 0.07 per cent of the outstanding ordinary shares," it said.

The Mumbai-based firm began its new tender offer through its subsidiary Alkaloida, on September 15, which was to close on September 28, 2010.

It added that during the pendency of the subsequent offering period, no additional shares have been tendered and that all tendered shares were accepted for payment.

Sun Pharma had signed a $454 million merger deal with Taro in 2007, which was terminated a year later by the Israeli firm unilaterally. After this, both companies had filed various legal suits against each other.

On September 22, the company announced the acquisition of a controlling stake in Taro. It bought out the promoters of the Tel Aviv-based firm, the Levitt family for $37 million. The family has a 12 per cent stake in Tel-Aviv based firm.

Subsequently, company Chairman Dilip Shanghvi has taken over as the chairman of Taro.